


Risk

by HieFie



Series: Casual Warfare [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-14 03:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11774931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HieFie/pseuds/HieFie
Summary: The Balki Republic has been launching small attacks on the kingdom of Vale. War is coming.Risk is a character driven story in a military setting. That's pretty much it :) (edit: chapters combined to be longer, new chapter out now.)





	1. Assemble

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back :). I'll be doing 2 perspectives per chapter.
> 
> This isn't your traditional military AU but there will be fight scenes as well as romance as the story unfolds.
> 
> As always constructive critisicm welcome and enjoy. HF x

W

Your sister is the perfect soldier. She has been at the forefront of seven successful military operations in the last two years alone, including the merger of the Atlas militia and the White Fang (a previously dangerous private army that had several terrorists links). Her natural beauty and heritage mean that despite being second in command, she is very much the face of the Atlas military and to top it off she was filmed giving up her seat on the bus for an old lady last week. A blatant publicity stunt that the public fawned over - it got over 8 million views on YouTube. 

Honestly, part of you envys her. 

The other part of you is both extremely confused and irritated, and it is all her stupid fault.

You pinch the bridge of your nose,  
"But why do I have to do it?" You know you are whining but there were no cameras in her apartment, at least you hope not.

"Me and Branwen have... A history which would get in the way of negotiations." Your eyes shoot up to her. 

"That old drunk Vale commander?" You know you shouldn't judge, after all Winter has helped you cover up some of your more... embarrassing affairs.

Her nostrils flare as she rounds on you, "I was young and reckless, something you have **plenty** of experience with."

You feel your cheeks warm af you look back down at the mission briefing that was the source of your irritation.

"Sorry, that was inappropriate of me." Winter stood up straighter, "anyhow the mission itself is a routine FZ. I don't particularly understand your resistance."

Taking a breath, "It's nothing Winter. I'll prepare for the mission overnight."

Winter visibly relaxes, "thank you Weiss. Don't stay up too late." She embraces you, you are still sisters after all.

"I won't, goodbye Winter."

You head out and close the door but quickly sink back into it, landing softly on the carpeted floor.

Honestly, she's right. It's a very basic mission. Vale have requested a meeting with the Atlesian Military to discuss their current conflict with the Balki Republic. The mission briefing is to politely decline their request but maintain a positive relationship with Valian ambassadors. You've done a million of these before.

So why are you so freaked out? 

Well, one name on the dossier had caught your eye immediately - Ruby Rose - advisor to Qrow Branwen. You can feel yourself blush just thinking about her.

The daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long currently holds the record for longest confirmed sniper kill and highest number of confirmed kills in a year, as well as a ridiculous number of other accolades for a 21 year old. She had an impressive record, as well as being far too attractive for her own good.

That wasn't the problem, you can handle sexually intimidating opponents. The **problem** is that yourself and Ruby went on a two week course on hand to hand combat in Mistral about a year ago, and let's just say you shared more than a bunkbed.

\--

B

You take a deep breath. The ocean breeze brushes your face. You love the smell of the sea - that's why you come out here whenever you can get off duty. The secluded spot allows you to read to the melody of waves crashing against the Atlesian shores. Solitas really could be beautiful.

"Belladonna. Schnee wants you at HQ." The sound of static ruptures your veil of peace. You angrily grab your radio.

"Then tell Winter I'm busy." You growl back at the kid who decided to radio you whilst you were off duty. He's clearly new to the White Fang if he is dumb enough to call **YOU** at this time of night.

"I'm sorry ma'am, she is insisting." You angrily smack you book closed and head off. 

"Stay with miss Schnee and inform her that I will return within five minutes." You are not in the mood to deal with Winter's shit right now, but you don't feel like dealing with an angry Schnee tomorrow so you start sprinting back to the city.

"Good of you to finally grace us with your presence, Captain." She stares you down as you enter the room, you narrow your eyes and stare right back. She gestures at the young private on radio duty, "leave us."

He puts his head down and walks towards the door. As he attempts to pass you, you instantly put him in a choke hold. Your golden eyes bare into his soul, "If you call me again while I am off duty, I will peel off every one of your finger nails." 

"Yes ma'am." He chokes out and you let him scamper off with his tail between his legs.

"Good to see you haven't changed Blake." She wants something - there is a file in her hands, of course she's here to offload some work onto you. You are beginning to regret that dumb merger more and more every day.

"Get to the point Winter. What do you want?" You casually drape your right hand over your pistol holster, you **very** much want to enjoy your weekend off.

She scoffs at you as her eyes flash over your pistol, "don't embarrass yourself. However I can see you are not in the mood for chit-chat. Here, take a look." 

She flings the folder at you and you catch it without taking your eyes off hers.

"I am not reading a 50 page document. What. Do. You. Want.?" You are getting real bored real fast.

"FZ mission with Vale. They asked for a Fang representative, and I won't let anyone except you do the job." She dead pans you.

"Winter, as you know I don't play well with others." You almost smile at her. Almost.

"You are the person I have chosen for this job. I need someone who isn't going to roll over and fuck this up. You have never struck me as a weak person Blake." She starts to walk towards the door, " be at my office tomorrow at 0800. Do **not** be late."

You stare daggers into her back as she leaves and consider throwing a real one at her for good measure. The merger between the Fang and the military has provided much needed discipline that the Fang lacked previously and you truly are thankful that Winter has helped you get rid of the Fang's more questionable practices. She is also probably the closest thing you have to a friend these days.

None of that changes the fact that she is a colossal bitch.

R

"Listen kiddo, I'm too old for all this political crap and your dad is going to force you to do it anyway so just take the fucking job already." Qrow looked tired as he took a swig from his flask.

"I don't take orders from you old man." You put your hands on your hips, "I want to fight! I don't want to be stuffed in a room bullshitting some Atlas snobs into helping us when we both know we can win this war without their help. It's a waste of time."

He slammed his flask down but you don't flinch, "No one wins at war Ruby. Look it's just one meeting - you go in, tell them the situation and if they help us they help us. That's it."

You consider him for a moment; he looks old, older than 46. You wonder if being in the army does that to you. Maybe you'll look like that in twenty years. "That's it?"

"That's it." He confirmed, "Look you'll back in action next week, I have a nice recon job for you."

You pout, knowing you've lost.

"Fine, but when I get back I expect there to be a pack of 50 cal rounds waiting for me under my pillow." You smirk at him and he sighs.

"You sound like your sister." He looks at his scroll, "Speaking of, she'll meet you at the bunker for the talks."

"Wait, this is Yang we're talking about right? You sure that's a good idea?" You are sceptical that she could go five minutes in a tactical negotiation without setting something on fire.

"She's been filling in for Tai recently, and I think her scare factor works out pretty well. Plus her tits work wonders on -"

"Qrow!" You smack him, feeling yourself blush at the lewd comment, "You're related to those tits so shut up!"

He puts his hands up defensively, "I'm just saying."

You scowl, "Whatever ya creep, Ima go catch the train then." You bounce out the room - at least you get to see Yang again. It's been like FOREVER. Well 2 weeks but still.

**Ping**

Your scroll beckons you from your pocket.

'Here's the briefing kiddo.' - 1 attachment.

Hmm, you can read this while you wait for the overnight train. It still seems pointless - why would Atlas want to help us? They have no interest in the Balki Islands. Maybe you could threaten a trade embargo? Nah, they'd just get pissed. Eh, you'll talk to Yang when you see her. She'll know how to deal with this.

Y

"I have literally no idea how we would ever convince Winter to help us dad."

"Well worst case scenario you can always try to seduce her." You scoff into your scroll, "Hey don't laugh! Back in the day me and Qrow would do that shit all the time!"

"Didn't work though did it?" You sassily reply.

"Eh sometimes, but hey we got laid." You share a laugh. "Seriously though aren't there a bunch of Atlas trade routes to Mistral between us and the Balki?"

You scramble for the correct map on the airship to Atlas, "Huh, there totally is! Give it a week and the Balki will definitely loot those cargo ships." You smirk, those high and mighty Atlas shits were gonna be dragged into it with the rest of you.

"Nice, well Raven said dinner will be ready in about... 5 minutes ago, so I better get going. Good luck." 

"Seeya." You turn off your scroll and relax back into your seat. Maybe this was going to be easier than you expected.


	2. First introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams meet for the first time

B

You look at your watch, 0757. Might as well go in now, don't want to make Princess Schnee wait any longer than she has to.

You knock 3 times on Winter's office door and after a second it slides open revealing a large open space with a desk at the back and a map of Remnant projected onto the floor. Winter sits behind her desk tilting her head slightly at you, and a younger girl with Snow White hair you've only ever seen in pictures stand in front of her. She looks you up and down, and visibly frowns at you before turning back around.

Great. Another Schnee to deal with, just what you needed.

"Blake you are early, excellent. Let's head out to the bunker, I'll brief you on some new details on the way."

Winter addresses you as she leads you back down the hall, "Branwen and Xiao Long senior have both been replaced at last minute by relatives of theirs. It wont be a problem, just thought you should be aware." You head down stairs under the ground level, using Winter's high level access to pass through the bunker. 

Several servicemen salute you as you pass.

"In addition, if they bring up our Mistral trade route, assure them that we have upped the security significantly and that any concerns that they have are unwarranted." Winter stops and looks at you. "This is my sister, Weiss since neither of you seem to be able to talk to one another." 

You give Weiss a sideways look, and feel obligated to extend your hand. She shakes it, eventually.

"So good to meet the leader of the Fang." She betrays no emotion. Spitting image of her sister this one.

"I'm sure." To be honest you don't really have time for her shit. You doubt you will ever talk to her after this so who cares.

You approach the final set of doors.

"Oh and Blake, this will be a permanent position. Should Vale wish to discuss military matters with the state of Atlas, you will be the team that represent our militia."

You aren't even surprised at this point. You barely even scowl at her.

"I have a meeting with Ironwood but I expect you both to report to me after the negotiations." With that she turns on her heel and leaves.

You know over 400 ways to kill that stupid -

"Shall we begin?" Oh, you'd forgotten about her.

"Listen miss Schnee, I'm not supposed to be on duty this weekend so if we could get this over with as quickly as possible I'd really appreciate it." You put on your best fake smile.

She looks amused, "Fine by me."

With that, you open the doors.

R

You've been in this tiny room for like 20 minutes and you are extremely bored. You put your feet up on the table.

"Yaang, I'm bored."

"Ruby be serious please." Huh, she looks professional - not a word you would usually associate with Yang.

Before you can shoot off some snarky reply the door opens and you quickly recognise the girl in front of you. Your face immediately erupts into a grin, "Weiss! I didn't know you were going to be here!" 

You are about to jump up and run to hug her but Yang puts a hand on your shoulder. "Any particular reason you kept us waiting Schnee?" Yang asks in a happy tone.

"Generally, if you turn up early for a meeting you will be kept waiting." An unknown woman shootsnback from behind Weiss. You identify her as Blake Belladonna, leader of the new White Fang. Yang smirks at her.

"Oo, feisty. White Fang?" Yang asks bluntly.

"You asked for a representative didn't you?" The brunette sits opposite Yang before turning to Weiss who was just standing there, "Care to join us miss Schnee?"

Weiss looks embarrassed but recovers almost instantly and heads over. Only once she has sat down do you realise your legs were still on the table.

Remedying this, you brush your hair out of you eyes and state, "We were expecting your sister. Guess this means we're not worth the time of day then."

If Winter or Ironwood didn't show, then Atlas clearly had no intention of helping.

Waste of time.

**The following week.**

W

Ironwood slammed the door behind you.

"Sit." One word is all he needs to let you know how fucked everything is.

You take a seat next to Winter, with Belladonna standing slightly further back. At least that black ops trash shows some respect. You can only imagine the things she had done while in command of the Fang.

"18 servicemen dead, over 10 tonnes of ammunition and supplies gone?" He stared at all 3 of you, "WELL?"

"Sir, my sources in Balki assured me that they were not interested in the cargo. I took additional precaution when handling the -" Winter stopped abruptly when Ironwood smacked the desk.

"What precautions would those be? Adding minimal security to military convoy in an active war zone without consulting me?" Winter holds his gaze but looks close to tears. You feel a surge of anger towards Ironwood. Nobody makes a Schnee cry. Nobody.

"With respect, sir. I am positive that you would have made a similar decision to Winter in light of the situation. The Balki have never -" he slammed his desk again and you start to wish you had never opened your mouth.

"Don't talk back Schnee or you will regret it." He growled at you, "But I am sure you the two of you will be able to enlighten me why you green lighted the operation after Xiao Long **clearly** indicate that the Balki would target the convoy, in spite of any additional security?" 

Shit, he reviewed the tapes. You are about to state that Xiao Long was simply trying to bait you into helping them but Belladonna beats you to it.

"Sir, we misread the situation but Xiao Long was clearly scaremongering. She also said that the Balki might attack Atlas itself." Even they couldn't be that stupid - Atlas was as much a stronghold as it was a city.

"Then maybe we should prep the AA guns because she seems to be the only one with a brain around here." He nearly spat at her.

He took a breath.

"As of this moment we are at war. Schnee you are suspended until further notice. Now get out." Winter stood and nodded before leaving quickly. "You two will be on the first airship to Vale. Inform them of our decision and express our willingness to assist them in **any** way we can. EVERYTHING goes through me. Ceil will brief you on your way out. Dismissed."

You feel like shit. Nearly 20 men and women are dead because you didn't listen. It's a miracle that you didn't also get suspended - it's as much your fault as it is Winter's.

Ugh, no point dwelling on it now. If you let your failure cloud your judgement, hundreds more soldiers could die as a result and you won't let that happen.

You patiently waited outside his office for your... partner. As much as you want to hate her, she was effective in the negotiations last week and she is obviously very intelligent. It's just a shame that she is not a soldier, she is a spy.

B

"This conversation does not leave this room." He says in a hushed tone.

"Of course." You confirm. Despite your different backgrounds, you very much admire Ironwood. Most people in Solitas did.

"If we are going to fight this war, I want to be able to show the public that it was worth the cost when it is over." He turned and held your stare, "I need you to make sure Xiao Long and her sister are going to play ball when the time comes to share the spoils of war." He refers to the distribution of the land on the Balki Islands.

You know where he is going with this but stay silent anyway.

"I want you to become involved in one of their lives." You would laugh out loud if he wasn't dead serious.

"Sir, I don't think I would be best suited to -" 

"I've been reading your record Blake, this is the kind of thing you are known for. Don't bullshit me." He looks impatient, "I will personally be overseeing the Fang's operations while you are in Vale. Report as soon as the meeting is over."

"Yes sir." You resign yourself to the mission, and wonder which of the 2 girls will be easier to seduce. You'll have to do some digging on them. You turn to leave.

"And one last thing- honestly, do you think the Fang will be willing to fight?" He looks slightly concerned.

"General, despite what some people believe, we aren't savages - we are soldiers."


	3. New digs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have combined chapters 1+2 and 3+4 and will aim to keep the chapters longer as I feel it suits this kind of story. HF x

Y

It's her fault and you want to tell her so. You want to scream at her that this isn't a game, and that people are dead because of her stubbornness. You can't though - you still need her troops.  
At least she looks embarrassed.

"Good morning Weiss. Hi miss Belladonna." Ruby did a little wave. That's the thing about your sister, she will always be positive no matter the situation. She has seen more death, much of it at her own hand, than anyone you know and she still acts like she hasn't got a care in the world.

The two women sat opposite you in a small cafe in Vytal - there was no reason why you couldn't save a little time by eating lunch while you persuaded Atlas to fight a war for you. Smiling, you ask,"Good journey down I hope?" You are probably going to have to deal with the ice queen and grouchy kitty until you have won this war so you might as well play nice.

"We would like to formally apologise for the way we acted last week. In light of recent events, it is clear that we should have headed your warnings. Furthermore -"

"We get the idea Weiss." Ruby cut her off. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"Look, it's in the past and the best thing we can do is move on and get justice for the dead. We are all on the same side here." You consider yourself, "but next time swallow your pride and listen to us when we are trying to save some lives." 

You see Schnee's jaw clench and you smirk. Ironwood clearly has her on a leash. 

"You done jerking off your ego?" Damn, kitty is brutal. You like her. Her mouth creeps into a smirk and you smile back, leaning back in your chair while you nod for her to continue. "Excellent, the file you gave us only weakly outlines battle plans. I was hoping you aren't as incapable as these documents suggest and that you have further notes?" You nod again, "care to share?"

Hearing the impatience in her voice and not caring, you reply "You are on a need to know basis. Your army is here to assist **our** operation and as such we will be running the show from here." Belladonna narrows her eyes at you - she clearly is not used to being told she can't have what she wants. "I will however share this with you. It contains a rough plan for some black ops work that I was hoping the Fang could deal with." 

Catching the file, she half smiles and replies, "sounds like fun", and stashes it beneath the table.

"We were actually hoping to get a rough idea of how many soldiers, vehicles, hunters and ammunition Atlas will be providing." Ruby used her best disarming look. Blake didn't flinch but the ice queen visibly relaxed. Maybe she wasn't as cold as she let on.

"General Ironwood is willing to provide any troops you require on the condition that all battle plans are approved by him at least a week in advance." Weiss attempts to summon a waiter, all three of you give her a look, "what? We are in a restaurant are we not?"

You laugh as everyone except the Faunus orders a drink. "Come on, live a little kitty." You smirk as a pair of golden eyes snap to yours and you find yourself on the receiving end of a violent death stare. Huh, she has really pretty eyes. You haven't noticed until now and you look over the rest of her - all of her is really pretty. 

"Latte, please." She dead pans, not taking her eyes off of you.

She's wearing a padded jacket and a woollen hat. You would never have guessed that she was the leader of possibly the most dangerous organisation in the world. She looks far too cute for that. Ruby kicks you under the table - you should probably stop staring at some point.

To be fair she's still staring at you, "We'll send you the details of our current defensive setup. There have been several attacks on cargo as well as an isolated civilian settlement. We don't have the numbers to protect all of our costal towns." 

Weiss smiles, that looks weird. "I'll give you my scroll number and if you could also send a copy to Atlas that would be brilliant." Hang on, they aren't living in Atlas?

"Wait, are you guys staying in Vale?" Ruby beats you to the question. "Do you need a place to stay?" You face palm. She's way to nice for this shit.

"What?" You swear you see a red tinge in Weiss' cheeks, you'll ask Ruby about it later. She quickly adds, "No we're all set up."

The atmosphere of the meeting is far lighter than the previous one, despite the fact that you are all at war now. It's probably because you aren't trapped 500 feet underground in some dimly lit bunker. You feel like having some fun, "what about you kitty cat, you wanna bunk with me?" You raise your eyebrows suggestively and smirk at her.

She smirks back, "you should know I killed the last person who called me 'kitty'." You believe her, but the corners of her mouth are just slightly lifting so you know she's just playing around.

"Yunno most people are scared of me Belladonna. There is a reason for that." You peel back your jacket to reveal a pistol. You could outdraw **anyone**. The Atlas armed guards who were trying to blend in behind the Faunus immediately tense. Blake looks vaguely amused. "Chill out dipshits, if I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already."

Ruby grabbed your arm and twisted it onto the table, and you immediately put the other hand in the air in surrender, "OW ok i get it!"

"I'm sorry about her she just gets a little excited." She addresses the guards but still hasn't let go of your hand - if you really wanted to you could flip her but you don't want to make a scene. A few people are looking over at you now so she releases you, "Don't threaten a captain of the White Fang! Are you insane!" She whisper shouts to you. Belladonna raises her eyebrows at the hilarious display.

"It's ok miss Rose, I'll give her a quick death I promise." Weiss laughs at that. The Fang isn't known for its mercy. The Faunus shoots her a look but the drinks arrive before she can threaten anyone else.

"In all seriousness though, our next meeting will take place in two days once we have looked over the files you have given us. I will ensure that Ironwood sends out reinforcements to some of the understaffed coastal towns within the hour." It was nice to be dealing with someone so efficient for once. Usually it took hours of flaunting your sexuality to be able to persuade a general to donate their troops to your cause. You suppose it's their cause too now. "Could we meet somewhere more... Discreet?"

You sip your strawberry milkshake. "Alright, I have a safe house just outside the city. I'll text you the details." 

"Ok well, it was... nice, seeing you again." She managed

"That looked like it hurt to say." You and Blake share a smirk. At least someone appreciates your humour.

Ruby ignores you, "you too, see you soon!" She says as Weiss grabs her coffee and stands to leave. You nod at her and she nods back before turning and leaving.

"See you around Blondie." You beam as the Fang member smirks at you. You fire a finger gun at her and she rolls her eyes and exits the establishment.

"Huh, she's warmed up to you. Honestly, I was surprised you didn't kill each other last week." Ruby half-jokes. 

"Yeh well it's different now." Your smirk disappears. "She knows that we're stuck together now so she has to act nice. Ironwood's orders probably, but yeah I'm surprised she actually managed it." 

Ruby hums in agreement. At the end of the day, none of this was real - you even said it yourself. You're just playing nice so that you don't scare them off. It didn't actually mean anything. 

"Well I'm off. Qrow's orders." You nod, you wonder how many Balki soldiers Ruby will run into on her recon mission. You weren't worried for her, you stopped worrying about her a long time ago, you were worried about them.

B

Honestly, you envy them a little. Two half-sisters who grew up in Patch and joined the Vale military as soon as they were able, following in their fathers footsteps. They've been together their whole lives. Just another person to lose, you tell yourself to try and feel better about your lonely existence. Rose is an accomplished soldier, with no paper trail that suggests promiscuity. Xiao Long is a different matter entirely - she is the much easier target for seduction. You sigh, this is the part you usually enjoy, the chase. It makes the prize far more satisfying knowing the work you put in to ensure the kill. Except you aren't going to kill her, how disappointing. It isn't all bad - she's your age and not entirely unattractive. Plus, and you hate to admit this, she is kind of funny.

That's how you ended up here, following said blonde at 8pm through the streets of Vale. You've been following her all day since the mission - it was standard practice for you to investigate targets prior to action, and Xiao Long was no exception. She spent 3 hours at what you assume is a Vale secret headquarters in the city, then went downtown to visit Branwen - there had been a close call when the old man had locked eyes with you across the street for a second, but he disregarded you as just another tourist. And that brought us up to the present. 

She has made it to a Starbucks on a street corner and you sit on a park bench across the street, pulling out a book. People don't look at book readers, they tend to assume that the readers are wrapped up their own little worlds - it makes you invisible. She keeps checking her watch, she's probably waiting for a contact but she could just be bored. You know Qrow is keeping her off active duty so that she can act as general - he's getting old and someone needs to take his place. 

If Ironwood was keeping you locked up in Atlas you'd probably just kill him and the rest of the upper class twats who lead the Atlas militia through heritage rather than skill, looking at you Schnee. At least her sister isn't entirely useless - Weiss is similar to you in the fact that she doesn't have time for people's bullshit, and you respect her for that. You don't respect her obvious infatuation with Rose. You roll your eyes, she's still an amateur.

Well look at that, you were wrong. She wasn't waiting for a contact, she was waiting for a date. A tall redhead was hugging Yang and you recognise her as the athlete Pyrrha Nikos. You smile to yourself - she has so many people she cares about. She is so vulnerable. Were the tables turned, you could dismantle her in an instant - target the sister while she's on a mission, then the girlfriend and father while they slept. She would be at your mercy in a number of hours. She does look happy though. You frown slightly.

You shake your head. The girlfriend will complicate things slightly, it would be too much work to force a break up so you'll just have to hope Xiao Long is up for a bit of out of relationship fucking. Alternatively you could simply attempt to form a close friendship with her. Ugh that sounds exhausting, and sexual relations cause artificial feelings of closeness to form in most people anyway.

You might as well just get in her pants and be done with it.


	4. Rough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third meeting ends with a bang.

W 

You shouldn't have trusted that buffoon. Sooner of later she is going to get you all killed. 

"Will you chill out Schnee. Nobody knows we're here, and anyway my contacts say the Balki don't have spies in Vytal yet." Xiao Long sips a violently red cocktail as you stand with your arms crossed. There weren't guards escorting you this time, so you let loose.

"You said **safe** house. A margarita bar is not a safe location. In case you didn't notice we are **high priority** political targets without armed guards since you told us THIS WOULD BE A SAFE HOUSE." Luckily the bar is deserted except for you, Belladonna, the blonde idiot and an old barkeep who raises his eyebrows at your outburst.

"No, you came alone so Ironwood can't spy on you." She smiles at you as you scowl which only serves to make you madder.

Ugh, Ruby uses that smile. "Where is the intelligent one?" You ask Yang regarding her sister.

"Active duty." She says tensly. "Thanks George, that will be all." The barkeep nods, reaches below the bar to pull a lever and exits through the backdoor as military grade blockades close over the windows leading onto the street. "See? Safe house." She looks happy with herself and you narrow your eyes.

"You want a drink?" Blake says as she turns to you, is she serious? "I can make anything you want. No poison, I promise." Now she's smirking too, aren't you supposed to be at war here?   
You clearly scowl, because she rolls her eyes and vaults the bar to gain access to the alcohol. Yang is just sitting and staring at the White Fang captain.

"Ok Xiao Long, we've reviewed the plans and Ironwood has approved the black ops operations. We have also sent out squads to all coastal towns specified, but we have made adjustments to all of the larger assualts which you will need to approve." She's still just blankly staring at Blake who is now mixing her own red liquor. You click in front of her face several times.

"What yeh, got it. You got the files?" She jumps and Blake smirks at her. You pass them to her quickly. She takes them and quickly turns away from you, enthusiastically asking Blake a something you are curious of yourself, "When did you learn to mix drinks kitty?"

"Somewhere exotic." She says silkily. Wow, she is really turning it on for Xiao Long. You suspect that Ironwood told her to get close to the Vale general and honestly, her tone of voice and smirk is making even you blush. You shouldn't be surprised, this is what she is known for.

You clear your throat loudly, "before you two get drunk, can we at least review these plans?".

Xiao Long downs her cocktail and slams the glass against the desk. "Sounds good Schnee." 

"Right." You do your best to look unimpressed and continue, "firstly I wanted to talk about your scouting missions. You clearly have contracts running and we would like to be involved in the process."

Yang stops smiling and crossed her legs, "listen Schnee, we will share any information we deem valuable with you, but for now we are going to keep the actual mission logs to ourselves. You know, in case there **are** spies in Atlas - we want to avoid sending our recon agents into a trap."

"If that is your concern we can keep it between us only." Yang scoffs at you, "Hey! I have recon experience, and Blake is running the black ops anyway so why not?"

She smiles at you, "Because you are going to run home and tell Winter, who is going to tell Ironwood, who is going to tell his advisors." You bite your lower lip (a nervous habit that you have **got** to stop doing), you aren't that reliant on Winter. Are you? "Besides, I'm pretty sure you just want to know since you are worried about my sister."

Your eyes shoot up to her and you scowl montrously. "Excuse me?" Blake lets out a giggle. What the fuck, she doesn't giggle she is an assassin! You flap your hands in front of your face, "I will not tell Winter, or anyone else for that matter, about any details shared at these meetings and I am not trying to assist you in a major covert operation just to spy on Ruby!"

"On first name terms are we?" the dumb blonde is smirking at you now.

You pinch the bridge of your nose a sigh, this was going to be a long 2 hours.

Y  
"Ok look I'll talk to Qrow about it but don't hold your breath Schnee." You finish, at least you are finally done. She shoots back a tense thank you and begins to pack her files away, you do the same.

"And Yang?" She sounds higher pitched than usual so you turn around, "Give this to Ruby when you see her with the strict intruction to only use it in emergencies. If she ever needs exfil, I will organise it immediately no questions -"

"Cool, I'll tell her to text you" You blank her and take the note, putting it away. Ruby told you that her and Weiss hooked up about a year ago but hadn't stayed in touch, hopefully you can push them into a slightly healthier relationship. You don't want Ruby to turn into you - maybe she can actually have a social life instead of clinging to old acadamy friends when they come to town. You frown at the thought of Pyrrha - she's getting married this year to some dumb French playwrite. Eh, atleast you fucked her in highschool. "Ok who wants to get drunk!" 

Schnee scowls and roles her eyes, "No thank you. Try not to get too hung over, we'll meet again in 2 days at a location of **my** choosing." And with that she turns and leaves without a fuss. 

Belladonna hasn't moved though. "What do you think Blake, a week before she fucks Ruby?" you send a joke her way.

"Hmm, I bet the next time they see eachother." She smirks at you, pulling a face that makes her seem equal parts innocent and attractive. You narrow your eyes slightly as you realise what she is doing, and how good she is at it.

"So Ironwood told you to seduce me huh?" You say sadly. You'd kind of thought you could become good friends through all this shit, guess not. It's actually depressing how few friends you have now days, does Qrow count? Nah, you're just a means to an early retirement for him.

Her face slowly changes to a more serious smile. Her eyes become harsher, shame, you liked her kind eyes. "He wants to make sure you'll play nice after the war. Thought if you were getting some, you might be more open to it." You scowl as she pours herself some gin and sits next to you. "To be fair he's right, you are an emotional wreck- you go between happy and angry about 10 times a minute. See!" She points at your grimace.

"That's just who I am Belladonna." You take her bottle of alcohol and take a swig. "Why do you think they call me firecracker." You feel able to be weirdly open with her. Its probably because you havn't actually **talked** to anyone who isn't in your family since you took this stupid job.

She sighs and stares at you. You feel trapped by her gaze, despite her obvious vunerability in the moment, "Do you like what you do Yang?"

You let out a chuckle, "Hell no, I want to be fighting." The answer is immediate - you are doing this because everyone around you told you that being a general is what every soldier should want. If that's true then most soliers are fucking cowards. "What about you assassin? You enjoy killing or seducing enemy soldiers, politicians and generals to get what you want?"

She takes a sip from her drink and turns back to you with that annoyingly sexy face. "Depends, I'm having fun right now." You know what she's doing and it still excites you - maybe she's just that good. Or you know, maybe you are just rediculously weak.

"Stop that." You shyly turn towards the bar and pour yourself some gin. You try to smirk, "It doesn't work if I know what you are doing." 

"Then why do I need to stop?" That silky voice washes over your slightly drunk head like velvet, as she slowly traces the back of your hand with her fingers. 

She stops and starts laughing, breaking the illusion.

"Man, I'm so fucking good at this. You're practically melting. You know I've never had someone say no to me?" You start laughing at your own patheticness. She traps you in that stare again and asks, "What about you? What are you good at? Or are you just a pretty face and a pair of tits?"

You can't tell if she's joking or not. Pff, you didn't need to prove anything to her - she is a jumped up assassin for hire. Buuut that doesn't mean you can't impress her right? You pull back your jacket, steady yourself and place one hand on your pistol and the other holding your little pink umbrella from your strawberry sunrise. You flick the umbrella and when it is about 4 ft away from you in the air, you pull your pistol and take the shot, splitting the wood. You could outdraw anyone in Remnant, even when you were tipsy.

Blake's eyebrows raise and she claps a few times. "Impressive, for a soldier." She's challenging you with that smirk again. It makes you a little angry that she is **still** trying to seduce you. She's either making fun of you, or thinks you are desperate enough to fall for this shit.

You put your pistol on the bar and stand in front of her at your full height, "You think you can take me kitty? Or do you want me to turn my back first like your other targets?" George won't be pleased when you trash his bar, but you challenge her anyway knowing she's far too proud to let that just slip by. "Go on Blakey, I'll even let you take the first -"

She gut punches you with an open palm and instantly brings her right hand across to hit your face but you grab it and flip her onto the bar. She rolls over the top of the surface and pulls you over the bar with her. Usually, you'd be strong enough to stop that. Tipsy Yang isn't quite as strong as sober Yang, and as a result you find yourself on the floor being straddled by Blake on the other side of the counter.

She puts her fist to your throat, "submit." You smirk, you've never submitted to anyone or anything in your life - not gonna start now. You buck your hips and grab the arm pressing on your throat, trying to twist it into a break hold, but she's like an acrobat - she twirls around your upper body, obviously going for a choke hold again so you kick your legs against the counter and do a backwards roll up into the cupboard holding the expensive beverages. Said cupboard crumples instantly as you brutally shove her back into the oak. She's kicking her legs into your waist and her arms are constricting your neck and forearms.

You aren't about to let her choke you out though, even if it meant fighting a little dirty.

You bite into her wrists, drawing blood and she gasps in pain. You smirk but quickly realise the mistake you've made as she sinks her teeth into your exposed neck. You cry out and release her wrists but send your elbows backwards into her stomach, hard. She grunts and her hold on you weakens for a second. You take advantage and raise your arms up, trapping hers against the wall, doing a 180 so that you are her are face to face. Your noses are almost touching.

You violently stare into her golden orbs as you shove your forehead against hers, "Impressive, for an assassin." Blood leaks out of your mouth as you talk - you are both panting, and her lips are also dripping with blood. Her small, perfect, crimson lips... 

Fuck it.

You push your whole body into a kiss with her - it tastes of the sweat and blood you both released during the fight but you don't care. You don't even care that this is exactly what she wants. You body is so jumped up on the adrenaline of the fight that you barely even stop for breath. Luckily she remembers after a while and pulls back.

"Hey," She pants at you, "I told you no one ever says no to me."

You shut her up by ripping off her shirt.


	5. Active Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't send a squad to do a battalion's job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, bit of a brutal chapter - first two POV's are chill but Ruby's is painful. Still read it tho :p.
> 
> Part 2 of HF vs longer chapters.

B

You wake up face down in your bed with a bad headache. You turn to the side to look at the alarm on the bedside table but everything is a little bit too bright and the covers rustling under you sound like a thunderstorm. Ugh, wait were you drugged? Shit where are you - you jump up before realising you are in your rented apartment. For a second there you thought you were in trouble. 

You fall back down and try to grab your pillow so you can put it over your head, you are probably just ill. Except you don't grab your pillow, you grab a soft mane of hair.

Oh right, Yang. Your memory quickly returns, and you decide to put some distance between you and the first mission that has required you to get drunk in 3 years.

Silently, and slowly (you are still a little groggy), you get up and head towards the bathroom to wash your face. You splash the cold water on your face and look in the mirror - you look scared. See the initial plan was to get with Yang over the period of about a month, but last night you had freaked out. You had realised that you are actually quite attracted to this girl, and attempting to make her think that you wanted anything serious would probably make **you** want something serious.

She's dangerous - she can make you actually laugh which was something that no one except your mom has ever been able to do. It makes you massively affectionate towards her, something that the captain of the White Fang is not allowed to feel.

So instead you had decided to go with a more direct approach, making it clear that you were on Ironwood's orders so that, atleast in her eyes, the relationship would be purely physical. This way, you can tell Ironwood that you are in with Xiao Long **and** protect yourself. You have no doubt that Yang will be fair in post war negotiations without you whispering in her ear so this set up has no downsides.

"Morning kitty." You can tell she's staring at you without taking your eyes off of the mirror - you are still topless to be fair. You take a deep breath and turn to face her. Why do her eyes have to be your favourite colour? 

"My eyes are up here Blondie." You put your game face on and smirk at her, best get her out of here quickly before you accidently ask her to stay forever. "Your girlfriend is probably wondering where you are."

Her left eyebrow lifts slightly, "Hmm, which one of your spies told you I have a girlfriend? Better fire them." You narrow your eyes, Nikos isn't with Xiao Long. Dammit, what if she expects you to -

"Whatever, I'll leave you to do... whatever a master assassin slash spy does on her weekends." She gets up and grabs her clothes, she seems chill at least. 

"I'll try not to kill anyone you know." You remark as you grab your top and chuck it on.

"Mhm," She smirks at you and grabs a pen from your desk and walks towards you. You tilt your head at her wondering if she wants to go a few more rounds. She looks down at your exposed arm, where she had bitten the night before, and takes your hand softly before scribbling a phone number along your forearm. You should stop her, but you just don't want to. "Call me if you want to do this again."

She winks at you, and you roll your eyes as she turns to leave. She sways her hips **far** too sexily and as she does and you realise that this whole thing will probably be harder than you anticipated.

She closes the door behind her and you bite the inside of your cheek - surprised at how incapable at your job you are. This is literally what people hire you to do - it doesn't fucking work if you start to have feelings for your target. Plus, people you do this too don't have long life expectancies anyway - soldiers or politicians who either die in the field or get killed because they piss off the wrong general. 

You shake your head, Yang can handle herself and Ironwood seems to like her. Oh my god, you actually care if she dies. And her name is Xiao Long not Yang! Fuck.

Dammit, pull yourself together. This is a simple mission, she's not even that attractive, you lie to yourself. Ugh, none of this would be a problem if she couldn't make you laugh.

 

W

Today is boring day. It is only 10am and you wish it was over already. Xiao Long hasn't sent those files back yet, Ironwood hasn't given you any work to do and the alcohol cabinet in your room is beginning to look very appealling. Plus, Ruby hasn't texted you yet. Right! Time to get up and do something useful with your miserable life.

You walk over and open your wardrobe, ignoring the fancy dresses you reach for the guitar bag at the bottom. You grab it and turn to leave, texting your driver. It's time to do something you are good at.

Twenty minutes later you arrive at the shooting range. You walk towards the front desk and wait for the man to finish his phone call. He gestures you to sit down but you ignore him and narrow your eyes at him. You aren't exactly a patient person.

"...sure Jon, watch out for Walkers. Ok, I've got to go talk to you later." He puts the phone down, looking a little scared of you. You smile to yourself, good to know you've still got it. "Hello miss, looking to shoot?" 

"Yes please, do you have many people on the range today?" You like some space when you shoot.

He shakes his head and you pay with your card before grabbing some ear protecters and moving through to the range. There are 3 other people here so you walk down to the other end and set 3 adjacent spaces up to have targets at 20, 50 and 100 meters. You stand in the middle of the 3 cubicles and open your guitar case.

You sigh in satisfaction, it has been a while since you shot Myrtenaster. She looks beautiful despite being locked away since you had got to Vale.

She is an all white M416 with a revoling dust magazine. You had always wanted to use a sword when you were younger, but had come to learn that warfare didn't allow for such elegance.

You attach a red dot sight and turn off the safety before taking a slow breath. To be fair, you don't know if she's even back from her mission yet. Ugh, the thought of Ruby just won't leave you alone. Its a good thing the men on the target sheets don't have families.

You end up unloading your entire standard magazine into the 3 targets and hear a frustrating click. Spinning the revolving magazine you fire some incindiary rounds, followed by an explosive round and two more sub-zero rounds before dropping the gun and pulling your pistol, flicking on full auto and wrestling the recoil as the 20 meter target gets shredded. You hear that fucking click again and angrily discard the sidearm before pulling the knife hidden against your spine, spinning the blade into your hand and pelting it towards the 50 meter target. It tears straight through the sheet.

You curse under your breath, you are breathing heavily and everyone else is looking towards you. You give them the finger as you vault the desk and go to retrieve your knife. They don't get to judge you, they don't have to deal with the thought of a girl who is the closest thing you've ever had to a friend dying somewhere in Balki while you sit at home straightening papers.

The worst thing is that she has no idea what she is doing. Just the cheery tone of her voice and the way she talks to you preys on your loneliness. You know, and the fact that you two spent a week fucking like monkeys. She seems to have completely forgotten about that though which makes you wonder how insignificant you really are.

You growl at yourself and collect your stuff before leaving, thinking of only one thing - 11am is **not** too early to get wasted.

 

R

This is bad, this is really fucking bad. 

You'd just been chilling on top of a forrested hill outside a suspected Balki naval launch site. You'd been watching for about 3 hours through the 20x scope on your VSS - the brief was to **observe** , not engage. When a buggy had pulled up at the base of your hill, you weren't worried that they'd seen you - you were far too well hidden in the branches of an old dust infused oak tree. They'd started walking straight for you so you'd moved gradually into a position that was more well hidden from the ground directly below you. That brings us up to the present.

Why the fuck are they here?

"... the oak Gerrick. There are black dust crystals in the base, I want them for the ship's primary cannon." The tallest is barking at the mand behind him.

"Right, so why do we need a squad of 10 to cut down a tree?" Oh shit, you need to move now. But where to, if you jump to another tree they will see you, and they are all armed. It wouldn't require a deadshot to hit you once they see you. You check the magazine of your short range sniper - 10 rounds. You have an M9 with a 15 round magazine, 2 throwing knives strapped along your chest and a singular smoke grenade. The problem is that unless you hit the head, 9mm rounds won't drop someone in 1 hit.

You press your red button, something all Vale agents carry which instantly calls for an extraction. You just need 3 minutes.

"We need them to carry the crystals Gerrick you fucking idiot. They weigh 50 kilograms each." He pulls an explosive charge, "I'll cut the fucker down myself."

He straps the charge to the tree and you know you have to fight. You press the silent ignition on your grenade and throw it about 20 feet away from the tree. You count down from 5 -

5..

He is prepping the charge.

4..

He adjusts the timer.

3..

He takes a step back.

2..

He pulls the trigger out of his bag.

1..

"Go fuck yourself oak tree" His dumb one liner literally saves your life. You almost laugh.

0\. 

You hear the grenade click off and so do they - he takes his finger off the trigger.

"Shit, captain. Smoke grenade." They all tense up. The captain pulls his pistol.

"Gerrick take 3 men and go left, you 3 with me." He cuts right and leaves 2 men at the base of the tree as Gerrick takes the rest left. You let them get about 30 meters away so that your 20x scope will be vaguely useful. Now or never.

You peek round, and take aim at the first man who is distracted by conversation.

"Hey.."

"Yeh?"

"You ever wonder -" You stop him with a shot in the forehead. The other man's eyes go wide but he can't even open his mouth before he suffers a similar fate. Your shots are suppressed but the forest is silent. You drop your rope and slide down it before you hear the other men shout and a shot hits the tree next to you. The oak is wide and you crouch behind it.

You peek quickly, 25 meters and closing. You breath deeply to stop your shaking. You know where they are, you can do this. You hold your breath as you look around the tree again to the right and fire 5 shots in quick succession to drop 3 of the 4 men on the right side - the last takes cover and you duck backwards away from the oak as it takes automatic fire from the left. The sound alone is brutally painful - you will wear your earplugs on **every** mission if you survive this.

Repostioning behind a thinner pine you pull your pistol, yank off the suppressor and shoot half a dozen rounds towards the tree that the last man on the right is sitting behind so that he stays fucking put. 

He curses loudly and you holster your sidearm, you take a new breath and hold it as you stand up - you kick the dirt on the left side of the tree and immediately peek around the right. The forest becomes loud with gunfire. You fire your last 3 shots and take out 2. You never were good at close range. A shot bolts past your rifle and you hide behind the tree looking straight right - the only man with a clear shot at you is the coward on the right, if he were to peek that is.

You take off the strap of your VSS and pull your pistol, never taking your eyes off the tree. You hear the men on the left pushing up but you stay put. 

**Bang.**

He finally peeks and you put a bullet into his head. With your other hand still on your sniper, you throw it hard towards the left without looking and hear gunshots as you run towards a rock about 3 meters behind the tree. You hear a crack and splatter as a medium caliber round smashes into your left shoulder while you dive behind the rock. The adrenaline keeps you from feeling the pain, but you can't move your left arm any more.

You can hear someone close - you drop the pistol and grab your first throwing knife. You crouch up, his gun is down - never hold your gun down. 

The knife cracks into his face, just left of his nose as he collapses without even screaming. You are lucky it got through to the brain. You pick your pistol back up and listen - silence. You are pinned down behind a rock with at least 2 minutes before your back up arrives, but if they don't push you, you are safe.

They start talking in hushed whispers before you hear the crunch of their boots on the forest floor - you never liked safe anyway. Safe is boring.

They are going to push you from both sides, it's the obvious move and if you let it happen you will die.

You grip the second knife and throw it fast but blind over the rock to the right. As soon as it is gone you retake the pistol and look sideways to the left - you fire instantly at the man who is in the open and he falls as-

**Bang.**

Before you can retreat to the rock you feel a shot crash into your face. You screech in pain and collapse behind the rock, pressing your right hand over the wound - it is bad. The side of your face next to your left eye feels like it is on fire, and you can't see through the blood. You wipe your right eye, knowing it will be too painful to touch the left side so you will have to kill the last fucker with no depth perception.

They had both gone left - clever. You can hear him slowly advance, maybe he thinks you are dead. You quietly grab your pistol as more blood washes over your face, the pain is incredible but you have to ignore it and stay quiet.

You steady yourself, and kick the dirt up next to the rock. He fires 1 shot then stops and the instant after you hear the shot you look round at the same angle to unload 5 shots into the last soldier. The second shot kills him but you don't stop until you know he wont get back up.

You are panting heavily and bleeding badly from your face as you lie in the mud - you don't want to bleed out like this. You need to seal the wound. You stagger over to the man's body - he has a molotov cocktail strapped to his belt. The shot in your back is lodged into your shoulder blade so there was minimal bleeding but the shot that has ripped through your left eyesocket, probably narrowly missing your brain, is extremely open and needs to be cauterized.

You pull the the cloth out of the make shift fire bomb and light it quickly with the muzzle flash of your sidearm as you fire it into the ground. No point being quiet anymore -if there was any other squads nearby they would've come and kill you by now.

"COME ON!" You scream as you violently shove the cloth into the left side of your face. You burn your hand and destroy your young face as you hold it in place for 2 seconds before dropping it and shoving your face into the dirt to stop the burning. You should have just let yourself die. You can feel the insides of your eye turning to ash as the flame is quenched by the wet ground. You curse yourself into the mud, getting a mouthful on the earth, which you bite down into.

You can feel yourself losing grasp on reality but punch the ground with your burned hand - you are not going to die after that.

You can only hear ringing as you lie there with your entire body thrusting into the dirt. It is an eternity before you feel a man roughly grab you and put you over his shoulder. Blood pumps in your ear as he sprints towards an extraction heli that you called for.

You are crying loudly as he drops you into the small hold and grabs a medical bag. The pilot takes off and you feel the medic jab a needle into your arm. You hope it is going to knock you out because you can't stop wailing in pain. Blood and dirt coat your eyes and you can barely see or hear.

Your last thought before you go under is that next time you won't fucking sit on the magic oak tree.


	6. Out of sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forwards is the only direction we can go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so that's it for now. Will continue the series at a later date. I only work on 1 fic at a time and I want to try a modern AU. DW this isn't the end. HF x

Y

"Qrow I'm going to fucking shred you and feed you to the dogs." You speak quietly, but you hear the shake in your own voice. You are standing in between Qrow and Tai, and Ruby's hospital room. Your dad runs forward and you let him through as he crumples at her side. She's still out, but she's stable.

Qrow looks pale, "Is she -"

"She's fine. Now **get. out.** " You growl at him, this is his fault. No recon mission ends like this. He blinks and balls his fists.

"She my -"

"I SAID LEAVE." You aren't so quiet this time and several doctors look at you. Who the fuck cares.

He takes a breath and starts walking towards you anyway. Shame, the floor was just cleaned. When he's about a pace from you, you grab his neck quickly and throw a disgustingly hard right handed jab at his nose. He falls away, his nose broken and face bloody. You know he could've stopped you if he wanted but that doesn't make him the good guy.

"Where did you send her." You spit at him as he pants and checks his nose from the floor. 

"You know your mum did that to me once? Guess I have a way of pissing you lot off." He gestures the doctors to stay away, one of whom was on the phone to the police probably. You roll your neck, not in the mood for his shit. "A deserted coastline. I told her it was a possible launch site. I wanted to keep her busy while the-"

"Look at her face Qrow! You think that coastline was deserted?" You breath out violently before stomping the ground. "Which scout told you it was deserted? Tell me!" He laughs silently as he shakes his head.

"I'm not letting you kill an innocent kid." He stands and you contemplate decking him so that he stays down. "Yang. Shit like this happens HEY!" he exclaims as you take a step towards him. You are not in your right mind right now. Ruby is hurt and this is the guy who is easiest to blame. "You need to CALM DOWN. I'll hit back next time." He warns.

You scowl viciously at him, but take a breath. You are still angry, but you can't help Ruby if you kill her beloved uncle. It's not his fault. You feel your hair extinguish but your eyes stay red. "Her face Qrow." You say shakily, you are close to tears.

He steps past you giving you a pat on the shoulder. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, blood running freely down his face, and looks over Ruby's bandaged face. He sighs, without taking his eyes off her he states, "She won't care."

He moves over to the chair next to the bed and grasps Tai's shoulder, "This won't stop her Tai. She's too strong for that."

You see the sheets become strained as Tai balls his fists into the bed. He's sobbing and it makes you angry again. It's not fair. It shouldnt've happened. How did she make a mistake like this? Fuck this, you are the general - you can make sure this never happens again.

"I won't let her go out again Qrow." You glare at him, if Qrow tells her not to go out then she'll listen. You need him to support you - you've already lost too many people for a lifetime.

"You can't stop her. I know a dozen sniper's with one eye and so does she." You want to pin him against the wall and force him to do what you say. But your dad is grasping onto your leg now, probably scared you'll destroy the hospital. "It's her life kiddo."

You know he's right and it hurts. You huff and leave the room, the doctors give you a wide berth as you stomp out of the hospital. The receptionist greets you as you pass and you smash your fist into his desk, cracking it, in response. Fuck everything. You need air right now. Breaking the door as you leave, you head to the side of the building and find a trash can. 

You scream in anger and throw a few punches, denting the surface. You feel your knuckles bloody as you pant in exhaustion and pain. These people keep getting themselves hurt and all you can do is sit and watch while they slowly kill themselves. You can't control them. You cant save them. All you can do is watch as everyone around you dies. Summer, Raven and now Ruby. No. **NO!**

"Yang." You whip around and reach for your gun. If Qrow had followed you, you might've kneecapped him for good measure. As it is, a short black haired girl wearing a woolly hat stares sadly at you from across the alley. She looks frightened with her hands in the pockets of her coat. "You are going to hurt yourself."

"What?" You are baffled as to why she is here. Shouldn't she be fucking some ambassador? "The fuck do you care." You are not in the mood to be manipulated by some Atlas whore.

She looks at the floor but doesn't move, "She knew the risks Yang."

"My **name** is general Xiao Long. And the risks of a recon mission do not fucking include third degree burns across your face and hand, and a mangled shoulder blade!" You scream at her, you can feel your eyes igniting in red flares of fury. " **FUCK OFF**. I am not in the mood for your bullshit!"

"She could've died you know. That is the risk of every mission." She says calmly. "You can't help her from down here."

"What do you know about helping anyone..." You don't finish your malicious sentiment because you are on your knees sobbing like a baby. You collapse into the bin and cry out at the universe for being so unfair.

You don't care that Blake is watching you, you only care about Ruby right now. She's right though, you are here punching a bin and she could wake up at any moment without you. You feel so useless as you reflect on your own weakness.

You are about to curl yourself into a ball when you feel a hand around your shoulders pulling you into an embrace. You are so unaware of yourself that you just fall into the soft hug and keep crying.

"I know it's bad. But you are both going to get through it Yang." Her voice is the most reassuring thing in the world right now. You want to sink into her chest and cry forever but you don't. You sniffle and wipe your eyes with your sleeve as you sit up into the surface behind you. 

"You don't have to do this." You manage to breath out. "I'm not an asshole, I'll play fair with Ironwood after the war."

You shrug her arm off of you and stand, brushing yourself down. You are about to walk off when you hear her whisper next to you timidly.

"I know."

You turn and look at her, she's blushing. It could be an act, but she looks properly terrified. You are tired and scared and all kinds of shitty emotions but you can tell she's being sincere. You decide that if she's lying to you you'll just kill her later, and quickly grab her hand and walk off down the alley.

She initially resists but you give her hand a little yank and she falls into step with you in silence. You don't need to talk, you just need to be near someone right now.

Qrow doesn't bat an eye when you walk roughly back into the room, Blake in hand, and sit on the sofa at the front. "Belladonna." He nods with a bloody face over his newspaper and she looks incredibly embarrassed, clearly feeling out of her depth in the emotionally heavy atmosphere.

You don't care and quietly burrow your head into the nook between her head and shoulder before resuming your crying, albeit silently. After about a minute you feel her rest her head against yours, and feel just slightly better about the whole thing.

W

"Excuse me?"

"Further meetings will be handled by Qrow Branwen until further notice." Ciel states calmly to you for the second time. You furrow your brow - what happened? Is Ruby back from her mission yet? What about - "Is everything ok miss Schnee?"

"I need Branwen's private number please." Ciel looks confused but nods and pulls out her scroll. She sends you the number. "Thank you Ciel, that will be all." She nods and leaves.

As soon as the door closes behind her you fumble for your scroll and add Branwen's number to your contacts. You open messenger and type out a quick message:

// This is Weiss Schnee. Is there a reason that miss Rose and Xiao Long will nolonger be handling negotiations? // 

You hit send and wait. Yang had seemed fine yesterday so there is no reason why she should leave the team, unless something had happened to Ruby. Shit. Honestly you don't know why you care so much about her, it just kind of happened over the last week. You spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about her last year, and then this week you've had to deal with being in close proximity to her for extended periods of time. Ok, you kind of know why you care about her.

You tap the dest impatiently, Branwen is supposed to be a spymaster. What kind of head of operations doesn't look at their phone?

)) Miss Rose has been incapacitated. Will not be able to continue. Xiao Long has dropped out. Look forward to working with you.  
Branwen. ((

Your breathing speeds up and you drop all pretences.

// Which hospital are you at? And don't play games Qrow, not a good time. //

He replies almost instantly.

)) St. James 879028 ((

You know the hospital so don't need the coordinates and you grab your keys and head out of your apartment as fast as your legs will take you.

Incapacitated? That means alive at least, for now. You stop and take a breath. Is this a good idea? You hardly know her, even if you did this is probably a family affair. You bite your lip and curl your toes. No. You have to go, you won't be able to stop worrying if you don't. You know you are smitten but don't care as you get in your car and start the engine. Your mind is focused on Ruby, if she dies then you'll lose faith in everything.

You end up paying $400 in speeding fines for that one journey.

R

Ah shit. You've woken up in a hospital bed once before when you were 14 and broke your leg playing basketball. It feels like you are lying on a rock, You cautiously open your eyes and see the harsh light of the room, before realizing you can only see out of one. Aaaand now you remember. Fuck. You frown, but it turns into a wince when the pain hits you. Man, everything hurt.

"Ruby?" You look down your bed and see a girl with blanched hair that is spread across the base of your bed. She's half lying down and has bags under her eyes. She's been sleeping clearly and looks quite hilarious. You've only ever seen Weiss in uniform but she's wearing slacks and a tank top.

You giggle at her, it hurts but it's worth it to see her go red.

"Sup Weiss. You miss me?" You smirk at her. Shit is done, you are alive, no point in being angry or sad or anything. Just move forward. Best way to do that is make fun of Weiss when she's just woken up and looks adorable.

"Ugh, shut up you dolt." She calls you her pet name and turns to leave, presumably to go and get the rest of the people waiting for you. You grab her top though and look at her pleadingly, you just want a few more minutes of silence.

"Please stay." you do your puppy dog face, or at least try it through the bandages. Huh, that reminds you, you are probably hideous now. You chuckle, "That face probably doesn't work as well as it used to does it?"

She turns back, and checks your IVs distractedly, "Of course it does." That makes you smile. Your mind flashes back to a year ago, Weiss telling you that you are the most beautiful girl in the world. You wonder if she still thinks that jokingly.

"How long have I been out?" You are honestly curious.

"Three days, Yang said she will destroy the hospital if you didn't wake up today." You giggle again.

"So what do you think, eye patch or bandanna?" you try to smile and it hurts less now that you have done it once.

"You are not wearing an eye patch Ruby. You aren't a pirate." She deadpans and you smirk at her. You like that Weiss is so different with you in private. You always got the idea that she doesn't have many friends, and felt bad when you cut your "relationship" off to work.

You sit in a comfortable silence for about 30 seconds before something funny jumps into your head, "Hey, you are the last person I had sex with." She looks away and blushes and you smile, "Hey don't be embarrassed! That means that you are the last person that got to fuck Ruby Rose!"

She turns and looks at you, tilting her head. You thought you were being funny but maybe not, "And why is that?"

"Oh, well yunno, the whole scarface thing I've got going on here." You gesture your face. You are still smiling but she looks sad. Man, keeping it funny Rose. "Sorry, bad joke?"

"What? No it's just, you look fine Ruby. It's honestly not that bad." She tries a reassuring smile and you stick your tongue out at her. "Listen, I should really go and get the others."

"Hey, sure. If you can't stand to look at me I get it!" You smirk at her and she narrows her eyes. "It's fine go!" you do your best dramatic flail of your unburned left hand.

She stares at you for about 5 seconds before saying, "You are very pretty Ruby Rose, with or without the burns.". With that she turns and leaves the room. You sit in stunned silence. Huh, maybe she's still into you. Gotta to remember to tease her about this later.

You hear footsteps and realize what's coming. Yang wasn't exactly a gentle hugger.


End file.
